My Grandma Wright

rocking Max in the same chair her mother rocked her in

My Grandmother Dorothy Rose Grant Wright passed away on Monday November 22nd. She was born in 1915 and was 95 years old. My Dad called me with the news that morning and I really had JUST been thinking about her before he called me. She was a wonderful person, mother and grandmother. It really is such a beautiful thing that she lived such a righteous life and lived to be 95 years old. Her mother lived to be 102! I know she is with my Grandpa Wright again and they are young and perfect and will be together forever. Here is a link to her obituary. Max and I flew out to Utah for four days and attended her funeral. We just got back this afternoon. While everything is still fresh in my mind I wanted to write down some memories of her as well as some impressions from the funeral.

4 generations

Memories of Grandma Wright:

Grandma lived in Provo while I was growing up though she spent her final years in Salem in a little house on the pond. She had lived in her house in Provo for 40 years and it had so much character. I remember playing with my Denver cousins Shannon and Shelly at her house. We would play Chinese Checkers and some bug board game with play-dough. We had sleep overs. One night I remember feeling home sick and my Grandma drove me all the way home in the middle of the night. I remember the little TV in the family room. The white fire place in the living room. The clean kitchen. Her famous, delicious rolls. We would watch them rise on the stove and would have contests to see who could eat the most on Thanksgiving. One of my brothers holds the record - 18 and a half maybe? I remember her phone with huge numbers in the kitchen. I remember making salt dough with her. But the most significant thing about the kitchen was the Cookie Jar! If we sang a song for her we would earn a cookie. When she didn't have home made she would buy the fudge stripe cookies and put them on our pinkies. The neighborhood kids would come over and sing for cookies too. A girl in my elementary school moved from her neighborhood and when she learned Sister Wright was my grandmother she told me how she loved getting cookies at her house. Her bedroom was always clean. Her bathroom smelled like soap and there were daisy mats stuck to the bottom of the tub. The stairs that lead to the basement were brown and one had a ledge broken off of it. At the bottom of the stairs was a large washing and ironing room. She had fun toys in the basement like a blue circle toy you could sit on and turn yourself with. She owned all the Book of Mormon videos. She had a quilt that had the handprints of all her grandkids on it, but it was made before I was born. She had a tiny paper cup dispenser in the downstairs bathroom that I loved. The back yard was large and there was a big black dog next door that would bark at us. She had cherry trees. She had a shed that my dad used to keep quail in when he was a kid. She had a small creek that came through the backyard and the boys would always play in it and catch water skeeters in paper cups. For a few years there was a hospital bed in the kitchen where my Great Grandma Lyle stayed. Grandma Wright took care of her until she passed away. Grandma was always excited to see me. Her face would light up and she would say "Emily!" in a happy high pitched voice. I always felt like I looked like her. I definitely look more like my dad's side. I am so happy she got to meet Max a few times. She had a large posterity and loved all her family members. She displayed all our pictures in her home. The past few times we came to visit Utah we would visit Grandma with Max. The last time we saw her was in July.

My Grandma with her siblings and her parents. She is the oldest, on the far right. My Uncle had these redone in color.

Grandma's Funeral:
It was such a sweet funeral. Her casket was PINK! She had pink roses on it as well. Perfect for a lady named Dorothy Rose. She picked it out herself. Five out of her six children spoke. My dad's oldest brother passed away a few years ago from cancer. I cried a lot through the whole thing. I wasn't sad really. I was just so thankful to have such a wonderful lady as my Grandmother and realized that I would like to be more like her in may ways. I am so thankful for eternal families. You could tell she had such a sweet and loving relationship with each of her kids. My dad told a story about how he ran home from school one day with a report card he was really proud of. He came down to where his mom was ironing (she did a lot of that with no dryer). She gave him a hug and a kiss and told him she was proud of him but then said that it didn't matter what his report cards said, she would love him forever. My dad said he would help her with the dishes many nights and always looked forward to that time with his mother. My uncle J.S. also said some things that really stuck out to me. Grandma had two boys when my Grandpa went away to WWII. He was in the army and was gone for 5 years. They kept in touch with letters and she always tried to keep track of where he was in the world. He told her that he was going to be on a ship headed towards Pearl Harbor. When the attack on Pearl Harbor happened my Grandma heard about it on the radio. According to my Grandpa's letter he was supposed to be there. She had to wait 4 months, 4 MONTHS before she received news that he was alive and unharmed. What she didn't know is that for some blessed reason his ship was delayed a week so he wasn't even there. I can not imagine trying to get up and be happy and raise two boys every day for four months while you don't know if your husband is ok. My Uncle also said that when he and his older brother went to pick up their dad at the SLC airport after the war that my Grandma made them little army outfits, just like dad's. How adorable is that? My dad was born about 9 months after the war was over so I'm sure glad my Grandpa got home safely. Overall my grandma lived every day for her family and did her absolute best to make her home a happy, clean, safe and loving place. Her children knew she loved them no matter what. She loved her husband and kept a picture of him on her nightstand. She loved the gospel and read her scriptures and attended the temple until the very end. I hope those things can be said about me at my funeral. I hope to be more like you Grandma Wright.

My dad's family in 1955. All six kids. My dad is in the white shirt on the far right. He looks just like himself!

It was wonderful to see so many cousins and aunts and uncles at the funeral. I don't know if we'll ever all be together like that again. It was fun to look around and see may people who look like me in one way or another! A cousin of mine even looked at Max and said "wow, I feel like he could be mine!" It's fun to see my cousin's kids too. Max loved running around and playing with his cousins. He is still the youngest of my parents grandkids and the others just adore him and love making him laugh. What is it about cousins? I'm so happy I was able to be there. It was nice to be in Provo during the official start of the holiday season. It snowed twice and it was like magic to me. Max loved it too, he called in "no" and kept wanting to go outside. My dad carried him home from church while it was snowing and he just laughed and laughed. Oh my home town. I feel like everywhere I go I can recall a meaningful memory. Loved seeing my mountains covered in snow. It was fun seeing them from the plane as we flew over SLC. But then when we arrived in California and I saw Corona del Mar and Balboa at the window I felt like I was home again too. It's a different kind of home. Home will always be where Jared and Max are!